Internship at Linfield College Fall 2007

To finish off my Sport Management degree, I was required to do an internship related to sports in one way or another.  We could not coach, it couldn’t be at WSU and we had to figure out where to go by ourselves with the manual we bought for the class.  Yipee. 

I was having a hard time finding an internship and I was running out of time fast.  I really did not want to venture off that far from home.  I wanted to keep it within six hours of driving.  I had to keep in mind that I did not have a lot of money, no place to live (depending on where I went) and I worried about how I was going to eat.  At the end of May I was getting worried.  I had no internship and I had no idea what to do.  I wrote some emails, sent some letters in with resumes and even called a few places.  The letters were sent back with rejections in them.  Back to the drawing board...sigh.

I kept in contact with one of my friends who lives in Oregon.  Her dad has affiliations with Linfield College.  He attended and graduated from there and he now volunteers as a stat keeper for football and basketball season.  Time was running out and I had to do something.  I asked her if her dad could talk to the athletic director and she said yeah, he could ask a few questions for me.  He emailed me and told me to contact Dawn Graff-Haight, the senior woman’s administrator for the college, through email.  I told her who I was, what I wanted to accomplish and asked if she had a position for me.  She emailed me back and told me to come down and visit.  I drove down there and met with Dawn, their senior administrator who was also a professor.  She asked me who I was and what I am doing.  We discussed what I wanted to accomplish while I was here and she gave me the tour of the athletic department.  She asked me if this was something I wanted to do and I told her yes.  I got my papers signed and I finally could sleep soundly at night, I had a secure internship.

First of all, before we go any further, I hate change.  I can not deal with change.  I have had a hard time with it my whole life. I couldn’t just go and do the things I was used to doing.  I did not like the fact that I couldn’t just go and hang out with my friends when I wanted.  I hated missing all the parties, get-togethers and mostly softball, oh how I missed softball.  I had a hard time dealing with the family I was living with in Oregon.  They did not get me, I couldn’t be myself; I felt like an intruder.  It made me exhausted just being there.

I started my internship on August 20, 2007 and I walked into the college very nervous.  I really had no idea what to expect.  Once I started meeting people and getting into my tasks they assigned to me.  The work environment here is very laid back and easy going.  A lot of the staff in the athletic department wears shorts, t-shirts, jeans, sandals and tennis shoes.  I have never seen anyone wear anything like a button up shirt, slacks or a blouse.  One of the questions I asked Dawn before I started was what do I wear to work?  She said whatever you feel comfortable in, people dress in coaching-type gear, so wear something like that.  Everyone who I come into contact with is very friendly and asks how I am doing.
 
I find myself working alone most of the time and always having trouble finding something to do.  This is a small school so a lot of the people who work here have many jobs besides the one they were hired to do.  They are very busy and some of them do not have time to find jobs for me to do.  I feel like I haven’t done much of anything but I know I have done some stuff that they wouldn’t have had time to do like the Lindex and cleaning the storage room.  I feel like I am not learning valuable information but more like “gopher” work.  The sports information director has lots of stuff to do but he has his army of work study students who are trained to do what they are suppose to do and he would give me some of that work to do but I would have to be trained in it and it would take time and work away from the work study students.

I helped create and organize the FLO sheet document for the football team.  I was responsible for counting the hours, making a list of the football players who turned in the hours and bringing it to the head football coach.  I helped the assistant facilities director put lines on the soccer field to prepare it for the first soccer game of the season.  I helped the SID with the production of mug shots for the winter sports season athletes.  I put graphics onto the football scoreboard with a program called the Venus 7000.  I helped compile an updated list for the HHP&A building and added it to the Lindex.  I worked with the game management manager and helped set up for the home volleyball matches.  I also set up the video camera to the DVD burner and the TV and taped the games.  I was also responsible for making a copy of the game and made sure both coaches each received a disk.  I worked game management for both football and soccer games.  One of the biggest jobs I did was clean out this storage room they called the “cubbie hole”.  It was about half a normal person’s height so it was difficult to stand in it.  Luckily, there were old boxes of equipment to sit on.  It took me about three weeks to clean it out.  Instead of piles and boxes of random, everything is neatly organized and labeled.  I helped organize all of the SID’s pictures, picture CD’s, media guides and game programs.  They are now more accessible to get to.  The other big job I have spent a lot of time on is the history room.  It has been an on going project and it looks more visually appealing than it did before I got to it.  I learned how to use LiveType, which is similar to PowerPoint, and a desktop publishing program called Quark.  We were one of the school’s running for a bid for the football playoffs and I was given the job to call the local hotels for availability.  I got to drive a really nice school car to PLU for the SAAC trip with two members of the group.  I made place cards for the Hall of Fame Banquet in which they turned out very nice and I got many compliments.  The current visitor’s guide is seven years out of date and I got to update it, looks nice.  I helped the SID proof read the seasonal athletics newsletter.  I went to my first swimming meet and got to learn to use the scoreboard and helped time the events.

My major project was to help with the Hall of Fame Banquet but I found out that I would not play a huge part in it like I was originally told.  Most of the jobs have been taken by the assigned staff.   A lot of the projects I was given I really did not get to do in its entirety.  Most of the projects were taken away from me and given to the staff because they’ve either done it before or they had more resources to complete it, most of the time I assisted.  I was assigned to update and make the history room more appealing to the alums, staff and students.  I would have gotten it finished sooner but I had to wait because I did not have the resources to just go and do it.  There were three things I did do myself, the Lindex, the FLO sheets and cleaning up and organizing the storage room downstairs.

The skills and competencies required for this internship are you have to be able to work with many different types of people.  I worked with several people during this internship.  One was very laid back and let me do my work, one let me do the work but just couldn’t let me have the final say in the project and the other one I hardly saw, they trusted me and let me do the project my way as long as I got it done.   You have to have communication skills (verbal, written and computer).  I worked a lot with the Sports Information Director and I had to use my organization skills as well as my creative side for some of the projects I did.   You have to be familiar with college sports and athletic administration.  You have to be willing to accept any and all projects that are given you.

I was lucky with my cost factors.  I had a family who put me up for the four months that I would be doing my internship at Linfield.  I did not have to pay rent, pay bills or buy groceries.  I did have to take out a loan for tuition and the rest of the money after it was paid for was money to live off of.  I did pay for gas and everything else I wanted to do.  Parking for Linfield Staff is free as long as you keep your permit in your car and you keep out of the places you can not park such as parking sideways in a parking spot or parking in a tow away zone.  I would suggest to other interns is find a place with people you know and could possibly live with or find a place where they will provide housing and food.

My internship at Linfield College ended December 14, 2007.  I volunteered 480 hours of my time, effort and energy.  I am so relieved it is done.  I am no longer a college student.

Linfield College is a great place for someone who is looking into getting into a small college atmosphere and having many jobs that are not outlined in their job descriptions.  The athletic department knew I was coming in August but when I was there it seemed like they were not prepared for an intern.  They have never had one in the athletic department and they didn’t use me as much as they could have.  I found myself not knowing what I was going to do each day.  It definitely would have helped me out by having a schedule that I had to follow while I was there interning.  Hopefully by having me there, they will now know what to do with an intern in the future and be better prepared for one.  What I learned from being an intern is when I get a job and have an intern, I will know exactly what they are going through and have projects prepared for them so they do not feel like they are doing nothing.  Linfield was very friendly, supportive and willing to work with me when I needed the resources to finish my jobs.

Leaving Pullman did not really affect me until I left for Linfield.  The first few months I felt so left out.  I saw pictures and heard stories of my friends having fun without me.  I could not stand it.  It was so hard for me to adjust not being there with them in Pullman.

I believe that you should hire a person based on experience and not what the degree says.  It's gonna be a rough couple of years.

What If?

Everything I have ever done, all of the choices I have made, all of the people I have been around, I always ask myself what if? What if I chose the road less traveled? What if I went to another school? What if I joined another sport? What if I decided to try out for the WSU soccer team? What if I decided to become friends with the people in my dorm…how different my experiences would be? 

The choices, the friends and all of the things I have ever done, I was suppose to do. I was supposed to go to WSU, change my major, join the fastpitch team and be exactly who I was while I was there. However, I am always thinking what would my life be like if I did do the opposite of what I had chosen? I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to travel around the country and play the sport that I love. I wouldn’t have had so much fun being around all of my friends, my pictures that I have would not exist they would be totally different, friendships would be different, and opportunities wouldn’t have been the same. 

It’s weird thinking about it but I always tend to think that when I am by myself thinking back on all of the experiences I had…what if?

Sparkler Bombs in Pullman

Ok, a few weeks ago before school let out me, Ashlee and Lizzy went to go blow up the sparkler bomb I had made. I was saving it for a good night. We went out on airport road just to get out of the city limits (cops). We found a good road and parked the car. Walked out a few yards and it took a while for me to light the thing on account of the wind and we didn't have the best lighting source, which we had to go back to Ashlee's apartment for because we forgot them the first time. Oh well. I got the thing lit and I ran for the car. Waited in anticipation...nothing spectacular happened. Just blew out the sides and puffed. I was so mad. I have seen some impressive ones over the years but this one, a big disappointment. Plus, my friends were excited to see it, Lizzy has never seen one before, and it did nothing. Ahhhh!

I told Ashlee that when my family comes for graduation, my brother had some sparklers still, so I had him bring them. However, I did not know I was going home that Saturday after graduation. I did not get to celebrate. Soo...I saved them for when I came over to get the rest of my stuff.

While I sat in Ashlee's apartment waiting for her to get off work, I started making the first one. It was just about done when she pulled up and walked through the door. She smiled when she saw what I was doing. "Sparkler bombs...YESSS!!"

We went down to the store and got some stuff for dinner on the BBQ. Best food ever!

Jackie and Jodie came over a while later, ate some food and hung out while we waited for Jess to come home from work. I got started on the second bomb while I sat with Jodie.

I made one of the Sparkler bombs a tribute to all of my friends at WSU and one for Slurs because I told her I would.

Jackie got out the lighter and said we were going to blow up the first one in the court yard of Meadow Brook. We were all kind of nervous because someone might call the cops or something. Jackie lit it, threw it and jogged back to where we were. Nothing happened. She went back out there and found that it snuffed itself out. I have had that happen on several occasions, I never trust the thing. She was crazy and picked it up. Turns out it was ok and we made another fuse for it. This time, she walked it out to the center of the courtyard, dug a little divot in the grass and stood it upright out of the ground, lit it and watched the magic from Ashlee's sliding glass door.

The best sparkler bomb ever so far...check it out.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2030651557

For the second one, me and Ashlee went out to the same road as mentioned above. This time we had matches and the bomb did go off, just not as good as the first one.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2030664865

Quotes from friends:

"Oh my gosh, I freakin' love you and love making sparkler bombs.... haha that's great!"  -Kari Johnson

"I'm so honored that a sparkler bomb was made in my name! I can't wait till we are all back in P-town together and I can actually participate in the sparkler bombage!  -Kaitlin "Slurs" Bailey

Graduation Day

Wow, I made it, after five long years, I was finally graduating.  So far graduation day was the longest day of my life.  My family got to Pullman around 3:00 on Friday afternoon.  We went and had Chinese food in Moscow.  All we did was pack up stuff.  Doug went out with his friends and I hung out with friends for a little while.  We probably went to bed around 2 a.m. that night waiting up for Doug.  He was supposed to be home at midnight.  It’s just a courtesy to others since Grandma Karen, Erika, Doug and I was going to sleep in the living room on the floor.  I got up around 6:30 that morning and got my stuff on, waited around for others and started walking over to Beasley.  It was a cold walk over.  They wanted you there at 7:30 standing in line and ready.  For the life of me I could not find the sport management people.  I called Starrla several times asking her if she was there yet.  I finally found the group I was suppose to be in and also found Starrla, thank god.  I saw Kaitlin that morning working on parking crew, I waved to her.  We finally got to walk in to Beasley and out of the cold.  We went in there and I immediately tried to look for my family.  It took me a very long time to find them.  Yay for text messaging.  We sat through the ceremony, which took about two hours and I was ready to get out of there.  We all walked home after taking dozens upon dozens of pictures.  I had Ashlee and Bri come over to meet my family.  Tucky was around for a while and I got some pictures with her before she left with Craig.  We all wanted some food, so we went down to Little Caesar’s for pizza while we finished packing up my stuff into all of the vehicles.  We finally got everything packed up and left after 2 p.m. that day.  That was my last official day in Pullman.

On the way home we caravanned it.  Mom, Grandma Karen, Erika and mom rode with me in the Intrepid, Dad and Doug rode in the Suburban and Grammie and Grandpa rode in their truck.  We took the easiest route down I-90 and stopped in Ellensburg at the BK Lounge for dinner.  We finally got home around 9ish that evening and unpacked the vehicles the next day.

The Week Before Dead Week, April 2007

Last week was interesting to say the least.  The week did not start off well.  Sunday night I felt like poop.  My group wanted to meet for our presentation the next day so we met at Stimpson.  We went over our presentation and how we were going to dress, called it a night and finally got to go home.  I wrote what I was going to say on my notecards and crashed on my awesome futon.  I heart that thing. 

The next day I got up and put some nice clothes on and walked to class.  We all got there early so we could go over it.  I was having a hard time, I did not feel the greatest, but I was gonna get this thing done.  We were the second group to go and we did awesome.  Got full points on the presentation and a 92 or something out of 100 on our 26 page paper.  Our professor said it was "quite a good paper".  We were stoked.  I absolutely hated that class, I was relieved it was finally over.

Tuesday was a nightmare.  After class I was suppose to meet Starrla and some friends at the Coug, I didn't get there until 4.  I had to go fix some bank account stuff.  I had to open a new account and fill out a fraud application.  Then, I had to take it down to the police station to get a case number for it.  After that, I had to go back to the bank.  It was getting stressful.  Luckily, it was fixed and my information was safe.  I will not get my money back until about May or June.  LAME!!  I met Starrla at the Coug and had some linner (late lunch early dinner).  Drank a few beers and went to Valhalla to play some pool.  Open mic night was canceled so I drove over to Nickey's and went with her and a few others to the Zzu.  The place was packed!!  I could not believe the line to get a drink.  Crazy!  I put away at least 6 or 7 beers that night.

Wednesday was the last day of the class I truly hated.  I was soo excited.  I then went over to Moscow to get an 8x10 picture developed for my EdAd class.  Ashlee came over and did some homework on my computer.  We sat and talked for a bit.  I made a few phone calls.  I took all of my pop boxes down stairs to Lea's room to work on my prank for Nickey.  It took me collectively 3 hours to put it all together. I have been saving the boxes for about a year.  I had a crap load of them.  Erika called me and we went to Safeway for whatever she needed.  Came back, watched some TV and went to bed.

Thursday was a long day.  Got up, went to my class, got all of our stuff back, filled out one of those evaluations for the teacher and left.  Went to Cleveland and hung out with Bri and Becca for a while.  In my next class they were doing presentations, sat through that and ate my sandwich.  Went to my last class and we were only in there for maybe 20 minutes.  Took Starrla with me and drove to the rec center and dropped off umpire stuff for Carly to have.  Apparently everytime I try and pay the umpires I do it wrong somehow.  Lame.  Took Starrla home and decided I was hungry.  So I called a bunch of people to see if they wanted to go down to My Office.  No one wanted to.  Got there and called Slurs, she decided to dump class and come.  I had to go get her because her car could not go in reverse.  I was happy to do so.  Came back and chilled.  I guess it was 50 and 60 year reunions at WSU and an old man and his son came in for a beer or two.  They sat there with me and Slurs and talked for at least for an hour.  He asked us about ourselves, they told us about themselves.  The old man, Bob Turner, graduated in 1947 and he played frosh basketball for Friel.  We could not believe what we were hearing.  He played for Friel!  He then told us that he was here when Mooberry and Bailey-Brayton coached here.  It was insane.  He even told us that one of his professors was Sloan, who was named for Sloan Hall.  He told us what he did here for fun back in the day...which was a Wednesday...haha.  Anyway, he told us that all of the activities around campus were student sponsored, they would go to a place called round-top to drink (near the golf course), which by the way, they did not drink hard alcohol because it was not sold around there, so they drank lots of beer.  He said that was his first time he puked from drinking.  He even told us that tutition at the time was $15 per semester.  We were in awe.  It came that time where he and his son had to leave.  We didn't want him to leave but they had to drive back to Seattle.  We said our farewells.  It was so cool to talk to someone who went to school back in the 40's.  That was pretty awesome.  We waited until Ashlee got there and left when Jackie got off work.  I went home and finished my prank, Ash and them went home and got ready to go to the Zzu for wing night.  I got done and went over to Ashlee's house.  We went up to the ZZu.  I beat Jackie at pool...twice!  Haha!  Then we went back to Ashlee's house and Slurs was done for the night.  We made sure she was home safely.  Then drama happened and I had to go to Moscow with Jackie (long story).  Came back and waited for Ashlee to call with Kari and Lizzy so we could go do the prank.  She finally called and it was on!  We all piled into my car and drove over to Nick's to make sure her car was there.  It was.  So we went to my house and got the stuff.  Drove back over to Nick's and got the stuff out.  It was so hard to keep everyone quiet.  I had to admit, it was pretty funny.  Got it all layed out and preceded to put it on her car.  Took pictures and left before we got caught.

 
Went back to Ashlee's and chilled for a while.  Kari went home.  We got this idea that we should blow up my sparkler bomb.  So me, Ashlee and Lizzy drove down Airport road and found a dirt road.  I got out the matches and walked about 40 yards away from the car.  Lit it, ran and watched it in suspense.  I had no idea what it was going to do.  I was waiting for a huge boom...never happened.  It was a dud.  I was not happy.  It lit itself on fire and kind of poofed.  I was soo mad.  We got back into the car very disappointed and drove back to Ashlee's house.  Dropped them off and I went home and went to bed.

Friday was fun.  Got a phone call from Nickey about her car.  "I hate you...hahah!"  She liked it.  She saw that there were some pop boxes behind her car...wait that is her car!  She had some people help her get it off while she was talking to me on the phone.  I asked her how many boxes she thought was on her car...she told me 47, nope...there are 104, she was in awe.  I told her I have been saving them for about a year.  She thought I was crazy.  I waited for Ashlee to get here and we walked up to campus and went to Bri's Shakespeare play.  Me, Ash and Becca went and watched.  Their group's performance was the best out of the two that we saw.  Very humorous and entertaining.  Took a few pictures.  Came home and cleaned the house because the landlords were coming.  Went down to Dissmores and then over to Nickey's for 30 bomb challenge.  I started at 3.  For a while it was just me and Nickey hanging out and watching Will and Grace.  Talked about softball and my prank.  Becca and Lauren came.  Then Bri and then later on everyone else.  Slurs made some really awesome spaghetti and we inhaled it.  Later we began to play King's and some of the rules were really whacked.  I really did not like the one "everytime Nickey talks, Val's gotta drink", sucky rule.  Nickey talks all the time...not fair!  Oh well, it was fun.  It got to be around 11 PM when everyone started to leave.  I only made it through 15 or my 30, I believe Nickey drank 26 or her 30 and Becca was a champ and finished all 30.  Crazy girl!  I remember that Nickey fell out of her chair and hit the kitchen floor hard.  She doesn't remember that.  I knew it was time to stop when I couldn't read the buttons on my phone.  I drank a bunch of water and went home.

Saturday I got up, took a shower and talked to the landlords for a bit.  I drove over to the Bellevue complex near the theater for an ice cream social with the residents.  It was in regards to our playground project.  I was so stoked that we raised enough money for them to have a new playground.  I got a bizzare phone call from Bri.  She asked if I could bring her a toothbrush because she could not find hers.  I laughed and told her I would definitely bring her one.  I went over to her house and gave it to her.  After that I came home and worked on packing up my stuff.  I didn't get very far. Went and picked up Shannon and Bri and went over to the softball banquet at Becca's.  Had more ice cream, gave out Senior gifts and voted for new officers.  I love my gift., very awesome.  Thank-you guys so much.  I will really miss my team.  I seriously will not know what to do without you guys next year.  I had the time of my life.  Thank you for the memories and the friendships.

I went to the last up all night with my sister Erika.  She just wanted to go for the free tacos.  We waited in line for the taco bar, got free shirts and watched some Harlem Wizards bball.  We got free tattoos and said hi to a few people that were there.  It was fun.

One more week...got to make the best of it.

Spring Break to California

I had the opportunity to take a road trip with Nickey, Nick and Shannon so I decided I would take it while it was in front of me.  I’ve always wanted to go on a road trip with a few of my good friends.  I just wish we would have had more time and more people.

Since I have been there, I have came to a three conclusions about California, one...people drive insane down here, we saw some one rear end someone else while we were there, two...there is a liquor store on every corner and three...at least one out of every five people here has at least one dent in their car and I saw many.  Why would anyone want to live there?

Saturday March 10

The trip down…

I got up and crammed the car with the stuff I would be bringing with me.  I told Nickey through text message (for some reason she doesn’t like to call people) and told her what exit to get off of and to tell me when they got to Dupont, I figured it would give us enough time to drive to be picked up.  Dad and I got into the car and drove to park and ride in Grand Mound near the I-5 freeway.  Perfect timing.  We got there as soon as Nickey, Shannon and Nick pulled in.  My dad helped me put my stuff in Nickey’s car, we said our goodbyes and dad told me to have fun.  We crossed the Columbia River Bridge sending us over the border into Oregon.  “Now entering Portland” as we drove passed the sign. Me and Portland have never seen eye to eye, I always manage to get myself in to traffic whenever I am down there.  Not this time, we breezed right through; it was unusual not to stop for stupid drivers.  It was a around 9ish and Shannon and I were starving.  We stopped at the Tigard Burger King and ordered it to go.  After we were done eating, Shannon and I passed out in the back for an hour or so.  We woke up when we stopped in a town north of Eugene to get gas.  Nickey had her window cracked open and failed to remember that in Oregon the gas station pumps the gas for us while she tried to get out of the car.  So the guy came out and Nickey says very loudly “Oh yeah, we don’t service ourselves in Oregon!”  We all died laughing.  The guy had heard us too.  After our little stop, Nick and Shannon and I passed out again until twenty miles before the California border.  Once we got into California, the sights were amazing!  The first thing I saw was the majestic Mount Shasta, mountain towns and huge lakes.  We still had a long drive ahead of us to get to Burbank.  

 We got to Yreka, California and decided it was time to pee and change into something more summer-like.  We stopped at a rest stop and changed.  Nick cut himself on his razor trying to dig for shorts in his bag.  Blood got everywhere.  Nickey was told by her mom that the first In and Out was in Redding, CA.  We did not find it.  We would have to eat lunch else where.  We got further down California when it was time for food.  We stopped in Red Bluff, California, got gas and then went to the Wendy’s across the street.  We got a few more hours on the road in before we stopped at a little dumpy gas station to go pee.  It was in the San Joaquin Valley somewhere I forget what town we were in.  Nickey and I went in there and one of the toilets overflowed and got all over the floor.  We hurried as fast as we could to get out of there.  We still had a drive a head of us.  Some of us took naps here and there when we got bored.  Nickey and Nick traded off driving duties every now and then.  I felt bad that I could not help them with the driving responsibilities because Nickey’s car was a manual and I don’t trust myself with a manual transmission.  It started getting dark as we drove through the valley and it was time to get gas again.  The gas gauge read empty.  We were getting worried.  Nickey assured us that we would not run out of gas and if we did she had access to AAA.  We made it to Junction 46 and yes…a gas station.  We filled up and were really thankful that a gas station was there for us.  We continued driving and I could tell we were getting closer because I started seeing more lights.  We finally got into Burbank at around 10 p.m.  We got to Shannon’s house and her mom and her friends were waiting for us.  We unpacked the car and visited for a while before we decided we were hungry.  We went to In and Out, I haven’t been there in three years.  We came home and went to bed.  Shannon slept with her mom, I got the couch and Nickey and Nick got Shannon’s room.  That was a long trip.

Sunday March 11

I woke up around 10ish along with Shannon.  We decided we were hungry and she made us eggs and toast.  We ate it outside on the patio because it was a nice day and I haven’t sat in the sun since September.  It was nice to thaw out from being in frozen weather for five months.  We laid out in the sun until Nick and Nickey woke up at about 12:30.  We got dressed and drove around Hollywood since Nick has never been there.   

 We drove around Burbank and saw a lot of the studios Shannon grew up around.  It was cool to think that I know someone who grew up in this area.  It was a very different experience than I had as a kid who grew up in a small rural community.  Shannon grew up around the entertainment capital of the world that I grew up watching on TV.  Shannon and her friends wanted to go to the beach, so we got the surf boards ready and drove down to Zuma Beach near Pepperdine University. 

We stayed there for a few hours, backed up and went home.  Shannon’s mom took us to BJ’s, a pizza brewery place.  They had excellent pizza.  Lynette bought the over 21 year olds the sampler.  Lynette and I shared one and Nick and Nickey shared one.  Lynette and I drank ours the fastest and won.  We came home and played Quipt and Balderdash then went to bed.

Monday March 12

I got up and went and laid outside in the sun. 

Shannon came out a few minutes later.  I got hot so I went in the swimming pool.  We waited until Nick and Nickey got up.  We went to In and Out for lunch.  Drove to Hollywood and parked the car for a few hours while we walked around.  We went into several gift shops, we looked around, walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame and found out that Sandra Bullock finally had a star (in 2003 she didn’t when I was last there), saw the Chinese Theater, took some pictures of the hand and foot prints in the cement.  

  
We contemplated going into the wax museum but no one wanted to spend money.  Walked back to the car and drove the Sunset Strip, went into Beverly Hills and then went back to Burbank.  Got the car tour of Warner Brothers studios, drove past Nickelodeon studios and Shannon showed us where she went to high school.  When we got home Lynette wanted to play video games with us, so we played Mort’s Mini Golf (part of the Madagascar video game).  Found out I suck at mini golf in real life and in video games.  Shannon wanted steak and potatoes on the BBQ so we had to go buy it.  I went with her to the store.  I was told that the grocery store we were going to was filmed in an episode of CSI.  I was so excited.  Since I was old enough, I bought beer for Nickey and Nick.  We got home and the steak and potatoes were thrown on the grill.  I sat with Lynette in the front while we waited.  We talked about a lot of things.  I like getting to know my friend’s parents; it helps me understand where my friend’s grew up, where they come from and who their family is.  Shannon’s friends came over and we played a little ping pong.  The food was finally done and it was amazing.  We got into drinking beer, mixed drinks and made the mistake of sitting in the hot tub for too long.   

It was about 3:30-4:00 in the morning when we decided that doughnuts sounded really good.  Shannon mentioned to us that there is a doughnut shop a few blocks down the road from Shannon’s house and that it opened at 2:30 a.m. 

  
We got so exhausted and decided we were done and went to bed.

Tuesday March 13

We got up around eight and Shannon did not feel well.  I think she got too dehydrated from the hot tub and alcohol.  We hurried and got into the car and started driving to Culver City, where Deal or No Deal was being taped.

We got onto highway 101 and got stuck in traffic.  We were not going to make the taping so we turned around and went back to Shannon’s house and slept.  Nickey and Nick decided that they would walk down to the NBC studio and take the tour.  I got up and started getting ready to go to San Francisco before Nickey and Nick got back.  We got all of our stuff together and packed it in the car.  But before we left Southern California we had to go to In and Out one more time.  We stopped at a 7-11 got gas and slurpies before we started on our journey north. 
  

  
During that segment of the trip, Nickey’s car went 5,000 miles since her dad bought it on August 20^th.  We got closer to Castro Valley when it was time to stop and get food again so we stopped at the Taco Bell.  We finally got to Katie’s house and unpacked the car.  We all took showers because we were still nasty from the night before and being in the car all day long.  Nickey, Katie and her friends were ready for a night out on the town.  Nick and I on the other hand, wanted a quiet night in, so we decided to stay at Katie’s.  We hung out, talked and watched Employee of the Month.  The whole time Nick worried about Nickey being all up on other guys at the clubs.  They came home after a while, got ready for bed and went to sleep. I got up that night and went into the living room on the couch because Nick snored way to loud.

Wednesday March 14

We got up and took a drive through Oakland and to San Francisco, a place I have always wanted to visit.  We started out with Fisherman’s Warf.  We walked around and Nick got hustled out of some money by a guy out on the street.  It was time for lunch and we went and ate sandwiches at Boudin’s, a very well known sourdough sandwich place.  Nickey and Katie were very excited to go there.  After lunch, we walked around all of the shops on Pier 39.  We spent a huge chunk of the day there.  We looked at the sea lions and admired Alcatraz.

After a while we went down to the park near the Golden Gate Bridge.  I was in awe.  I did not think I would ever make it here to see this.   

We took some pictures and walked around.  We then drove over to the other side of the harbor to AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants played.  We walked around the stadium, took some pictures and contemplated a way to sneak in, we never got that far.  There were a lot of signs and banners around the park about the All-star game.  It was going to be played at AT&T Park this summer.  It was about dinner time and we spent a while driving all over San Francisco looking for Buca di Beppo, a family Italian restaurant.  I even had a chance to drive down Lombard Street, famed for its twists and turns.  We drove over the Bay Area toll bridge, the one that was destroyed in the 1989 earthquake, to go back to Castro Valley.  We got home and played 90’s trivial pursuit, watched The Guardian and went to bed.  I found myself sleeping on the couch again.

Thursday March 15
 
The next morning we got up, packed a picnic lunch and Katie made us breakfast burritos.  She made them out of a spicy Mexican sausage called chorizo.  I wish I would have known before I ate it.  Apparently certain people’s digestive tracks can handle it and others can not.  I was fine until we got to San Francisco.  I tried to keep it in until we parked and I just couldn’t, it was coming out whether I wanted it to or not.  “We need to pull over!”  Katie found an area to pull over and drop me off at.  I ran as fast as I could to the nearby restaurant.  It was the restaurant near the Ghirardelli’s chocolate store.  I asked one of the hosts where the bathroom was, downstairs and to the left.  I ran as fast as I could without making a distraction.  I got in there and was relieved no one was in there to hear me.  I sat down and died.  I literally lost a set of guts.  I was in there for a while and Nickey got concerned and sent me a text message asking me if I was alright.  I said yeah, I’m alright.  A few minutes I took care of things and left the building looking for the car.  I guess Katie got out and went to the bathroom too.  I got into the car and Nickey asked why I was gone for so long.  I told her and felt embarrassed.  She told me that sometimes Katie has to go after eating that particular sausage too, so I shouldn’t feel bad.  That was a relief.  We drove back to the park near the Golden Gate Bridge and walked up to it. 

  
I had no idea people can walk, jog and ride their bikes across it.  I thought only cars could drive on it.  We started across it when some stranger saw my shirt and yelled Go Cougs to us.  We had beaten Oral Roberts that day in the NCAA basketball tournament. *Insert Full House theme song here* We walked about a mile into it when we made it to the first arch; there we met up with one of the workers.  We asked him a few questions.  The bridge is constantly being painted everyday, if you were to jump off of the bridge you would die from the impact, on average every fifteen days someone tries to commit suicide (we were there on the fifteenth day, no one jumped), the workers decided on the rust color for the bridge because the color went well with the surroundings and the worker gave us one of the bolts/rivets that holds the bridge together.  It was the coolest thing ever. 

We walked back and went down to the picnic area and ate our lunch.  We were almost done when Nick pointed out “Look there’s Comet!” (The Full House family dog, for the people who did not watch the show).  We laughed.  After we drove around San Francisco to look for gas and then got lost trying to find the freeway to San Jose.  While lost we drove through the Gay district and Castro Street, saw some really really cool houses (all of the houses seemed to be build the same way) and found out how steep some of the hills were.  We eventually found our way out by asking direction from a lady in a van.  We drove past Monster Park, where the San Francisco 49ers play and the Bay Area Airport.  We got into San Jose and made it to the costume shop that Nickey and Katie’s grandmother owns called Natasha’s Attic.  We spent a while hanging out in there and decided to go across the street to the bar to watch basketball.  A while later we went back to the costume shop and went to dinner at the Outback, my second time ever there and met some more of their family.  On the way back to their aunt’s house, their grandma was talking about some of the interesting people that come into the shop.  Somehow homosexuals got into the conversation and I was mentioned because of the way I dress.  “What about your friend Nickey?”  I said no and Nickey backed it up by telling her grandma that I was not a part of that lifestyle.  We got to the house and just kind of hung out until their grandma and aunt showed up.  I sat there with Nick and watched Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?  Dumb show.  We were getting tired and drove back to Katie’s apartment.

Friday March 16

Katie went to work and the rest of us slept in.  I got up before Nickey and Nick and watched a little bit of March Madness.  Katie called and told us to get ready.  We were going to go pick up In and Out for lunch and watch her two schools she attended battle it out in softball.   

 We went and watched the softball game at the campus of Cal-State Eastbay.  Cal-State beat Patton.  We went back to Katie’s apartment and got ready to go to the Golden State Warrior’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.  We rode the BART (Bay Area Rail Transportation) to the coliseum.  While we waited for the BART we admired that we were in the middle of the freeway, we took some pictures and talked to some guy who was also waiting for the BART.  We got off in Oakland and got to see where the Oakland Raiders and the Oakland A’s play their games.  We got to the Coliseum and found out seats.  About forty-five minutes into the game Nickey and I went and got our food with our vouchers.

We came back and ate and watched more of the game.  We didn’t stay until the very end; instead we left and hitched a ride with Katie’s roommate, who took us back to the apartment.  The Golden State Warriors did defeat the Timberwolves.  We watched a movie and went to bed.

Saturday March 17

For St. Patrick’s Day, we got up and Katie took us on a hike to this place in the hills.  It was foggy.  On a clear day you can see San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose all in one view.  We stayed up there for about a half hour and went back into the city.  Everyone wanted to play mini golf, so we went. 
  

 I lost.  I am very bad at golf.  But we had fun anyway.  We went to a batting cage where Katie’s roommate worked and hit a bucket of balls.  After that we wanted to see if the Cougars were playing on TV so we drove to Dublin, ate at a Mexican restaurant and watched the remainder of the game.  We lost to Vanderbilt and we should have won it.  Bad passes and really bad communication.  We then went to Target and Katie bought a board game, Loaded Questions, and went to Cold Stone and then home for game night.  We laughed our heads off; it was a very entertaining game to say the least.  Got our stuff packed and went to bed.

Sunday March 18

The trip back…

We got up around 5 a.m. and packed the car.  Shannon made it up and was dropped off, Nickey had to go pick her up from a neutral location.  Found out later that her and her friends had car troubles on the way up.  Flat tire issues and dumb repair guys.  We stopped a couple times to get gas, pee and to get food.  We got onto I-5 and got off in Weed, California on US 97.  We went up 97 to Bend, Oregon where we stopped and got food.  We fell asleep a few times and we stopped again in Grass Valley, Oregon (the middle of nowhere), there wasn’t anything there except for a gas station and a few sad looking buildings.  The lady at the gas station was nice.  We drove up to I-84 and then to the Tri-Cities where we got on to US 395 all the way up to Hwy 26 and then the final stretch to Pullman.  We got back around 8 p.m.  The trip was definitely worth it.

To California from Seattle (I-5)        = 1,069.78 miles (16 hours 31 minutes)
From Los Angeles to San Francisco  = 372.36 miles           
From San Francisco to Pullman        = 876.47 miles
From California to Pullman              = 1,248.83 miles
Total miles traveled                          = 2,318.61 miles